Rosenqvist Doubles Up in Monza Despite Spin

Series returnee Felix Rosenqvist took his second victory of the weekend as the Formula Acceleration 1 series concluded its Monza visit. He climbed from fourth on the grid and managed to win around the legendary Italian track despite a mid-race spin to cost him a handful of places.

Italian Sergio Campana started the race on pole position in front of his home fans, but immediately lost the lead to Dutchman Nigel Melker into the first chicane. Rosenqvist climbed up to second by the end of the first lap, and was ready to pounce on Melker for the lead.

While battling Campana for second, Rosenqvist spun and dropped down to sixth. In between the two compulsory pit stops, the Swede showed strong speed and overtook Melker for the lead, one he would not relinquish.

“It was a confusing race,” admitted race winner Rosenqvist. “I managed to get from P4 to P2 in the first lap. I had to work quite hard to keep my opponents behind me in the first few laps. I was coming closer to Nigel, but I got new brake paddles and that changed my brake balance a lot to the rear.”

When he spun he thought that was the chance of the win gone, but the fight back by the Swede was incredible, and when his mechanics put P1 on his board, Rosenqvist himself could not believe it.

“I thought the race was over and managed to overtake just one car before the first pit stop.

“I didn’t know what was going on, but I didn’t have any one in front of me. I had a good second stint and then they showed P1 on the pit board. I thought someone hadn’t made his pit stop and it wasn’t until the last lap that I realized I was actually driving P1. It was an amazing weekend.”

Melker held on for second, but dropped over thirteen seconds behind the race leader in the final stint. He admitted that his tyres during the middle stint where he lost a lot of time to Rosenqvist were a big problem for the Dutchman.

“During the in-lap I noticed I had a problem with my front tyres,” said Melker. “Since it was our strategy to change the rear tires, I got those. After my stop it still went decent, but after 5 laps I started to slide and my wheels blocked.”

German Sebastian Balthasar completed the podium after Campana was forced to retire on lap eighteen. The German admitted he lost contact with the drivers in front of him early in the race, and was forced to settle for third. Slovakian Richard Gonda closely followed him across the line, while series debutant Steijn Schothorst completed the top five.

Championship contender Mirko Bortolotti had a race to forget. He made a poor start and was forced to pit for a new front wing at the end of the opening lap after colliding with another driver. He eventually was forced to retire from the race completely on lap thirteen.